A Possible Future
by Sparky She-Demon
Summary: Ever since that kiss during the Phoebus and Thalen incident, Elizabeth hasn't been able to stop thinking about what the future could bring for her. Written for Sparky Advent, a few days late. Could be considered a prequel to my other SGA story "The World Goes On".


**A/N: I know that this is a few days late, but I've had some RL issues that prevented me from finishing on time. I would like to thank Dellruby, Pearl of Atlantis76, and Brie for their help. Italics are the flashbacks, and bolded italics are internal thoughts or mental talking between two people in one body.**

* * *

0115 Atlantis Mess Hall

She was alone. Elizabeth was rarely alone in the city, but right now, late at night and in the mess hall, she was alone. Elizabeth had brought her laptop with her, but she wasn't getting much done in the way of work, because her mind kept on going back to the Phoebus/Thalen incident…

_Phoebus was watching the way her host and the man she called John interacted. She could feel the conflicting emotions and the curiosity about what it would be like to be with him. Phoebus thought,_

"_**Hmm. If the other life pod does indeed contain Thalen, perhaps I can help satisfy my host's curiosity about this man. While furthering my own ends of course."**_

_Phoebus then projected the suggestion that John do her a favor. Elizabeth jumped at the chance._

_A short time later, they were in the room where the other pod was located. Phoebus mentally smirked once the other pod was opened. It was Thalen alright. She was going to enjoy this a lot._

_Shortly after Thalen jumped into the Colonel, Phoebus began talking. Thalen was watching her every move staring at her host's body. She didn't know how much of it was Thalen or his host John doing the once over._

"_These people are going to give us one last chance to say goodbye." Phoebus then walked up to Thalen/John and kissed them. Her host asked,_

"_**Phoebus, what are you…oh" **__Elizabeth went along with the kiss, humming with the pleasure at finally finding out what John felt like up against her body. And Elizabeth liked what she was feeling. A lot. _

_Phoebus thought to her host, who was still coming down from the kiss._

"_**I could've picked any one of the men in that room. I picked Colonel Sheppard for a reason."**_

"_**What reason was that?"**_

"_**Oh you know what I mean!"**_

* * *

"Liz, 'Lizabeth… Doctor Weir!"

Elizabeth snapped back to the present. Blinking, she noticed John Sheppard standing in front of her, trying to get her attention. Going back into her command tone, she asked,

"John. What are you doing up at this hour?" She knew full well how he was going to reply.

"I could ask you the same thing Elizabeth." Noticing her laptop, he rolled his eyes. Elizabeth was always working on something, even when she needed sleep. But he had a feeling that whatever she was working on was not Atlantis related. "What are you working on anyway?"He asked, making a move for her laptop.

Elizabeth made a noise of protest saying, "It's nothing…" Then he saw what she'd been working on.

"You're writing Christmas letters home?"

Elizabeth paused for a moment before deciding to let the man who'd been in 0her dreams for nearly two years, some of them naughtier than others, in on one of her Christmas traditions.

"Whenever I've been away from home at Christmas, I always write letters home. I got into that habit when I was in college and later grad school. I would do my best to get home for the Christmas celebrations, but there have been more missed Christmases with my family than I care to think about. I loved Christmas when I was younger. My family was always together, we had so many good traditions.

John noticed that Elizabeth had a wistful look in her eyes. It was obvious that she was definitely in the realm where her dreams were rampant. Elizabeth continued,

"I'd love to be able to pass them down. I've always wanted kids."

John looked up at that.

"I didn't know that."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him saying,

"Is it so hard to see me as a mother?"

* * *

Realizing that he needed to backpedal and do it quickly, John said,

"No it isn't that hard. I've seen you interact with the Athosian kids and they absolutely love you. You'd be a terrific mother."

"There's a different between interacting with others children and having your own."

"True, but still…"  
"Still."  
Both were silent for a short time, somewhat lost for words. John broke the silence, saying,  
"So, since you have decided you want kids, what would you name them?"  
Elizabeth replied,

"Well, if it was a girl I always wanted to name her Olivia."  
"That's a pretty name; it's a good choice if she will look anything like her mother."  
Blushing slightly, Elizabeth continued,

"Thank you. It was the name of a girl I grew up with. She always had a smile on her face despite her home life. We were friends up through high school. We haven't seen each other in years but we still email each other from time to time."  
"What does she do now?" he asked.  
"She's a New York City police detective. Her work takes up a lot of time."  
"I can imagine. So… What if you had a son? What would you name him? Oliver?"  
"No."  
"Hmm, how about Casper?"

"It's not a bad name but I don't think I would feel comfortable with name my kid after a kid ghost."  
"How about Marty?"  
"I don't think so."  
"Okay, how about Frodo?"

"Absolutely not!"  
"Obi-Wan?"  
"No, and will you stop, no more movie characters."  
"Then what did you have in mind?"  
"Alright, I would probably name him after his father."  
"His father? As in Hmm-hmm Jr? Most men would love that."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I know I would, especially if something would happen to me, it would be a way for me to know that my son would always remember me by."

They chatted some more before Elizabeth said,

"Well, I'm going to go to bed; I suggest you do that as well Colonel. We have a busy next couple of days."

As they cleaned up, they were silent but still working together. As Elizabeth got ready to leave the room, she said,

"And for the record John, I think that you'd be a great father."

* * *

Christmas Eve, Atlantis

Elizabeth was out on the balcony. She'd been at the Christmas celebration, but after an acceptable amount of time, she left, wanting to be alone in her thoughts, especially those that pertained to what the future could hold for her.

Those thoughts had been keeping her awake for the past couple of nights. Lately those thoughts had been of her future family.

Normally, in those dreams, the father of her children in the dreams was faceless. Elizabeth hadn't liked that. Now, for the past couple of weeks, he had a face. It was John Sheppard.

She supposed there could be worse people that her subconscious could put in that place. But it still scared her.

Ever since the incident a few weeks ago, she had to force herself to own up to the fact that she had feelings for the man. Any sane, straight woman that spent as much time in his presence as she had would have feelings for him. She also wondered if he would measure up to all the rumors that she'd heard about him and his escapades. Touching her lips, Elizabeth couldn't stop thinking about that kiss.

While Elizabeth thought she was alone in her thoughts, she didn't realize that someone had followed her from the Christmas party and was watching her on the balcony.

John was watching Elizabeth. She was obviously deep in thought. He'd been able to tell that the kiss had affected her. Especially as he remembered a statement from Thalen,

"_**I will tell you, there's definitely something going on with that lady of yours. I mean Phoebus wouldn't have done something like that kiss, unless her host at least had thoughts about the matter."**_

That had surprised him. Sure he'd noticed that Elizabeth was an attractive woman. A man would have to be dead and buried for a month to not notice her! But she was his boss, and therefore off limits. But still, a man could dream.

A small noise made Elizabeth look round, she should have known it would be John; he seemed to be everywhere she looked now days. A small sprig of green above his head caught her eye – Mistletoe!  
"A penny for your thoughts?"  
"Nice try, they are worth *way* more than that." He reached into his pocket and pulled out some change.  
"$1.38" he said looking back up at her with the grin that drove her mad on his face.  
"Everything is a joke with you isn't it?" she asked feeling slightly annoyed. If only he could be serious long enough for her to ask...no, that wouldn't work, but an idea occurred to her that just might.  
"What's that up there?" she asked indicating a point above his head. As he looked up, she crossed the few steps between them, and was right there in front of him when he looked back down. A smug smile on his lips, as if he had a plan, but it would have to wait, Elizabeth had a plan of her own. Without giving herself time to think and back out, she reached up slipping a hand behind his head, and pulled it down to within reach, then planted a kiss on his lips. She was looking for a spark, something to tell her how he felt, hell how she felt for that matter! She felt very little really, so let him go and started to move past him, disappointed, how could she have ever thought...

"Now hold on right there!" John grabbed her arm just above the elbow.  
"If you are going to do something like that, you might as well do it properly."  
He pulled her into his arms and held her close; she could feel the full length of his body against hers. His lips came down on her; they felt soft and warm and moved in a most inviting way, without thinking she responded in kind. All the feelings she had been looking for overflowed in her now. Her arms wrapped themselves around his back and held on tight. Fireworks seemed to be going off behind her eyes, and a whole mass of butterflies were released into the pit of her stomach. She felt as if she was falling, and didn't ever want it to stop.  
But finally he pulled away slowly, his eyes opened and he looked at this woman in his arms. When had she grown so beautiful? He breathed in through his nose, had she always smelled so good too?  
Her eyes opened and looked into his.  
"Elizabeth I..."What was he going to say? Sorry? He wasn't!  
"Merry Christmas" he ended lamely.  
"Hmmm, it could be." She said quietly, but her eyes were glowing.  
They heard some voices coming down the hall and sprang apart like teenagers being caught kissing by adults.  
"Watch where you stand there Sir, there's mistletoe."  
"Thanks Lieutenant, I'll bear that in mind." John answered glancing towards the man. He looked back in time to see Elizabeth trying to leave.  
"Wait I think we need to talk about...about this."

Elizabeth replied,

"This is a conversation best done behind closed doors. My quarters are closer, we can talk there."

She smirked to herself thinking,

"_If I have my way we won't be doing much *talking*."_

John also thought with a smirk on his face,

"_If I start the conversation first, there won't be much talking at all."_

* * *

**A/N 2: And so it begins, at least in my headcanon! **


End file.
